Craving and the three Poisons

• amoha (non-delusion) or prajna (wisdom)
• alobha (non-attachment) or dāna (generosity)
• adveṣa (non-hatred) or mettā (loving-kindness)

Poison	Sanskrit[11][12]	Pali	Tibetan[11][13]	Alternate English translations[11]	Skt./Pali/Tib. Synonym[14]
Delusion	moha	moha	gti mug	confusion, ignorance	avidyā (Skt.); avijjā (Pāli); ma rigpa (Tib.)
Attachment	rāga	lobha	'dod chags	desire, sensuality, greed	n/a
Aversion	dveṣa	dosa	zhe sdang	hatred	n/a

In the second of the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha identified taṇhā as a principal cause in the arising of dukkha (suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness).^[8]

The taṇhā, states Walpola Rahula, or "thirst, desire, greed, craving" is what manifests as suffering and rebirths.^[7] However, adds Rahula, it is not the first cause nor the only cause of dukkha or samsara, because the origination of everything is relative and dependent on something else.^[7] The Pali canons of Buddhism assert other defilements and impurities (kilesā, sāsavā dhammā), in addition to taṇhā, as the cause of Dukkha. Taṇhā nevertheless, is always listed first, and considered the principal, all-pervading and "the most palpable and immediate cause" of dukkha, states Rahula.^[7]

The end of Taṇhā occurs when the person has accepted the "transcendent right view" through the insight into impermanence and non-self.^[10]

The third noble truth teaches that the cessation of taṇhā is possible. For example, theDhammacakkappavattana Sutta states:^[17]

Bhikkhus, there is a noble truth about the cessation of suffering. It is the complete fading away and cessation of this craving [tanha]; its abandonment and relinquishment; getting free from and being independent of it.

The 'insight meditation' practice of Buddhism, states Kevin Trainor, focuses on gaining "right mindfulness" which entails understanding three marks of existence - dukkha (suffering), anicca(impermanence) and anatta (non-self).^[21] 

Taṇhā and avidya (ignorance) can be related to the three poisons:^{[citation needed]}

• Avidya or Moha (ignorance), the root of the three poisons, is also the basis for taṇhā.
• Raga (attachment) is equivalent to bhava-taṇhā (craving to be) and kāma-taṇhā (sense-craving).
• Dosa (Dvesha) (aversion) is equivalent to vibhava-taṇhā (craving not to be).

For example, in the first discourse of the Buddha, the Buddha identified tanha as the principal cause of suffering. However, his third discourse, the Fire Sermon, and other suttas, the Buddha identifies the causes of suffering as the "fires" of raga, dosa (dvesha), and moha; in the Fire Sermon, the Buddha states that nirvana is obtained by extinguishing these fires.^[30]

Taṇhā is a type of desire that can never by satisfied. AjahnSucitto states:

However, taṇnhā, meaning "thirst," is not a chosen kind of desire, it's a reflex. It's the desire to pull something in and feed on it, the desire that's never satisfied because it just shifts from one Sense base to another, from one emotionalneed to the next, from one sense of achievement to another goal. It's the desire that comes from a black hole of need, however small and manageable that need is. The Buddhasaid that regardless of its specific topics, this thirst relates to three channels: sense-craving (kāmataṇhā); craving to be something, to unite with an experience (bhavataṇhā); and craving to be nothing, or to dissociate from an experience(vibhavataṇhā).

• Ajahn Sucitto states: "Craving to be something is not a decision, it’s a reflex... So the result of craving to be solid and ongoing, to be a beingthat has a past and a future, together with the current wish to resolve the past and future, are combined to establish each individual’s presentworld as complex and unsteady. This thirst to be something keeps us reaching out for what isn’t here. And so we lose the inner balance that allows us to discern a here-and-now fulfillment in ourselves."

The Buddhist teachingscontrast the reflexive, self-centered desireof taṇhāwith the wholesome type of desire for well-being, called Chanda.

Ajahn Sucitto states:

Sometimes taṇhā is translated as “desire,” but that gives rise to some crucial misinterpretations with reference to the way of Liberation. As we shall see, some form of desireis essential in order to aspire to, and persist in, cultivating the path out of Dukkha. Desire as an eagerness to offer, to commit, to apply oneself to meditation, is called Chanda. It’s a psychological “yes,” a choice, not a pathology. In fact, you could summarize Dhamma training as the transformation of taṇhā into Chanda. It’s a process whereby we guide volition, grab and hold on to the steering wheel, and travel with clarity toward our deeper well-being. So we’re not trying to get rid of desire (which would take another kind of desire, wouldn’t it). Instead, we are trying to transmute it, take it out of the shadow of gratification and need, and use its aspiration and vigor to bring us into light and clarity.

Most people tend to act under the assumption that if one's desires are fulfilled it will, of itself, lead to lasting happiness or well-being. However, the Buddhist teachings state that desire for conditioned things cannot be fully satiated or satisfied, due to their impermanent nature. This is expounded in the Buddhist teaching of impermanence.

HUMAI (Ego) The term haumai is a compound of two pronouns hau and mai each meaning "I", and thus, haumai means "I, I".

The ancient Indian term, for haumai has been aham-kara "I-maker" or "I-doer". In the Chhandogya Upanisad, it (sham-kara) is equated with atman or soul, conceived as the immanent Divinity. But, its most popular sense, later, was the one attached to it in the Sankhya philosophy viz. it is a mental organ or function, evolved from matter, and mediating between the material and the spiritual. In Buddhism, it has two slightly varying meanings viz. mind involved in I-making-mine-making conceit and the bias of I-making-mine-making from the aham-kara that all actions spring. According to the Pali Pitakas, springs of action are six, three being roots of good, three of bad actions or three of moral and three of immoral. The three roots of bad actions are greed (lobh), hate (dosa) and want of intelligence (moha); the other three are their opposites detachment, love and intelligence. Modern Mahayanists hold that in the Bodhisattva theory, altruism as opposed to egoism takes a more prominent position, and the goal of nirvana is not one of personal salvation but of transferred merit, saintly aspiration being for the salvation of all beings